Article
| January 10, 2018

Quick Chip Technology Boosts EMV Transaction Speeds

Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover have offered solutions for faster EMV transactions. All of these major card brands have updated their EMV software with Quick Chip.

EMV rollout in the United States has been long and slow. In the locations that have implemented chip card reading technology, there are often a flurry of frustrated customers. Their primary complaint being that chip card transactions are incredibly slow. Unlike their magnetic stripe counterparts, chip cards must be inserted into the reader for a longer period of time until the transaction is complete. Some customers have reported waiting up to 15 seconds or longer for their authorization to go through. Not only does this create agitated customers, but it slows the checkout process completely, increasing wait times in lines for merchants and deterring customers away from their business.

Card issuers were so initially focused on removing fraud liability and improving security that speed of transaction seemed to have been an afterthought. Thankfully Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover have offered solutions for faster EMV transactions. All of these major card brands have updated their EMV software with Quick Chip (M/Chip Fast for MasterCard), hoping to ease the pain of merchants and customers alike.